Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, City Council members and county supervisors plan to meet today with U.S. Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro to discuss homelessness.
No major announcement was expected to come out of the meeting. HUD spokesman George Gonzalez told the Los Angeles Times that the meeting beginning at 9 a.m. at the county’s Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration in downtown Los Angeles was intended as an”exchange of ideas” on the state of homelessness in Los Angeles.
A countywide count has shown a 12 percent jump over the past two years in the number of homeless people living in the city and county of Los Angeles. More than 44,000 homeless people were tallied around the county in January, up from about 39,000 in 2013, and 26,000 were in the city, The Times reported.
County officials hope to develop a detailed plan, expected in February, to address the issue.
A spokeswoman for county Supervisor Don Knabe told The Times he plans to ask for more federal assistance for county residents who are chronically homeless or at risk of becoming homeless, including so-called Section 8 vouchers that provide federal rental subsidies for low-income people and families.
The meeting with Castro will be open to the public.
